Vivo V11 Pro Review: Bringing Innovation to the Masses

New and innovative features in smartphones are released, almost exclusively, with flagship devices. The new features slowly trickle down to mid-range and budget devices, but it takes quite a while for that to happen. However, Chinese smartphone manufacturer Vivo aims to break this trend by releasing its all new Vivo V11 Pro, which is a decidedly mid-range device that includes some features that have been exclusive to flagship devices.

The device, which was recently launched in India at an affordable price of Rs. 25,990, boasts of an in-display fingerprint scanner and minimal bezels with a waterdrop-style notch, features that you wouldn’t find on any other mid-range device. Innovative features set aside, the Vivo V11 Pro is a mid-range device packing in a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 SoC, coulped with 6GB RAM and 64GB of internal storage. Here we’ll be taking a close look at the Vivo V11 Pro and find out if it’s actually a worthy contender in the mid-range price segment.

Vivo V11 Pro Specifications

As mentioned earlier, the Vivo V11 Pro is a mid-range device which packs in a Snapdragon 660 SoC, coupled with 6GB RAM and 64GB of internal storage. Let’s take a look at the complete hardware specifications of the device before we dive into the review:

Display

6.41-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED

Processor

Qualcomm Snapdragon 660

GPU

Adreno 512

RAM

6GB

Storage

64GB

Primary Cameras

12MP f/1.8 + 5MP f/2.4

Secondary Camera

25MP f/2.0

Battery

3,400mAh

Operating System

Funtouch OS 4.5 based on Android 8.1 Oreo

What’s In the Box

The Vivo V11 Pro comes in a standard white box featuring the device up front which contains the device and a standard bunch of accessories, including a pair of earphones and a clear case.

Here’s all that you’ll get within the retail packaging:

Vivo V11 Pro

9V/2A charging brick

USB Type-A to micro USB cable

Clear case

Earphones

SIM ejector tool

Paperwork

Design and Build Quality

Starting off with the design, the Vivo V11 Pro follows a very modern design aesthetic, featuring a 6.41-inch Super AMOLED display with minimal bezels and a waterdrop-style notch. Thanks to its minimal bezels, the Vivo V11 Pro has a screen-to-body ratio greater than that of the Vivo Nex, a smartphone that doesn’t even have a notch. Our variant has a nice black and blue dual-tone color scheme, which sets it apart from other mid-range devices. The color scheme, according to Vivo, draws inspiration from Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night, giving the device a very unique appearance.

Build quality-wise, I found the Vivo V11 Pro a bit lacking compared to other mid-range smartphones. While most mid-range smartphones in this price range feature metal or even glass backs, the Vivo V11 Pro has a plastic back, which gives it a not-so-premium feel. Added to that, the sharp edges around the SIM slot further make the device feel cheap. The Vivo V11 Pro has a decent selection of ports, including a 3.5mm headphone jack and a micro USB port for charging and data syncing. I honestly would’ve preferred a USB Type-C port on the device, which is why I’ll be shaving off some points from the device’s overall score.

The hardware buttons on the right edge of the device, including the volume rocker and power button, are also made of plastic but have a satisfying click to them. The vertically oriented dual camera setup on the back is placed in the top left corner of the device, with an LED flash position right underneath. The dual camera module is quite small, compared to other mid-range devices, and it doesn’t have a significant bump either.

Despite the fact that the Vivo V11 Pro is made up of plastic, I really liked the overall design and the company’s implementation of a minimal notch. I was quite surprised to see how Vivo has managed to cram in the front facing sensors, including an IR blaster, within the minuscule bezel to the right side of the notch, leaving just enough room within the notch to house the front facing camera. Although I wish Vivo had used more premium materials on the device, I didn’t face any problems during my use so I’m going to let that slide.

Display

The Vivo V11 Pro packs in an impressive 6.41-inch Super AMOLED display, which is an excellent choice for a device in this price range. The display here comes with Gorilla Glass 3, which is quite an older version of the tough glass and while it does offer some protection, it’s not as good as Gorilla Glass 5 or the new Gorilla Glass 6, and it was noticeable. Within a couple of hours of use, the screen was scratched up quite a bit and I would strongly recommend you to use a screen protector in case you’re planning on purchasing the Vivo V11 Pro.

Quality-wise the panel is great, it gets pretty bright and has decent viewing angles. Color reproduction is also quite accurate and in case you don’t like the color profile, the device also gives you the option to select a cooler or warmer palette. As with other OLED panels, colors look very vibrant on the display and the blacks looks stunning.

Media consumption on the Vivo V11 Pro is a pleasure and I faced absolutely no problems with the notch. YouTube videos can be scaled up to fill the display, but you’ll still have to bear with a cutout to accommodate the notch. Personally, I find this approach to deal with the notch better than the one in which the video fills up the space on either side of the notch. With this kind of implementation I can be sure that no part of the video is being hidden by the notch. Overall, I really liked the display on the Vivo V11 Pro.

Performance

The Vivo V11 Pro packs in a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 SoC coupled with 6GB RAM and its performance is at par with other mid-range devices with similar specifications. I tested the device quite thoroughly, running most popular benchmarking apps and demanding games, and I have no complaints.

The Vivo V11 Pro was able to manage decent scores in AnTuTu, Geekbench 4 and 3DMark, which are quite comparable to other devices with similar specifications. In AnTuTu, the device scored a respectable 128304, while in Geekbench 4 it managed 1444 in the single-core tests and 5485 in the multi-core tests. Finally, in 3DMark’s Sling Shot Extreme OpenGL test the device managed to score 1211, while scoring 962 in the Sling Shot Extreme Vulkan test.

In day-to-day use I found no performance issues with the device. It worked as smoothly after a couple of days of use as it did when I first pulled it out of the box. Animations were fluid, all apps ran perfectly well and the device didn’t lag even once. Gaming performance on the Vivo V11 Pro was also quite satisfactory. The device easily managed to play PUBG Mobile at medium settings with no signs of slowing down and other intensive games like Shadowgun Legends, Asphalt 9: Legends and Tekken worked wonderfully as well.

While I can’t comment on how the device will age right now, considering the fact that it runs a pretty heavily skinned version of Android, I’ve faced no such issues with previous Vivo devices so that’s not something I’m worried about.

User Interface

If you’ve ever used a smartphone from Vivo before, then you’d probably already know that the company likes to heavily customize its user interface to make it look more like an iOS device and the Vivo V11 Pro is no different. The device runs Vivo’s Funtouch OS 4.5 based on Android 8.1 Oreo, which brings a ton of features at the cost of making the device look like a cheap iPhone knockoff.

If you can get past the initial look and feel, Vivo’s Android skin brings a bunch of useful features, including its super fast IR assisted Face Unlock which almost certainly works as fast as the face unlock feature found on OnePlus devices. Another thing that I really liked about Funtouch OS on the Vivo V11 Pro is the navigation gesture implementation, which undoubtedly is the best gesture navigation system I’ve used on any Android device by far.

The in-display fingerprint scanner on the Vivo V11 Pro is also the fastest implementation of an in-display fingerprint scanner on any device up until now. While it’s still isn’t as fast as a traditional fingerprint scanner, it’s great to see that the new technology is swiftly catching up. I personally had no issues with the customized UI, but in case you’re a stock Android purist, you probably will have a tough time with the Vivo V11 Pro.

Camera

Stills

The Vivo V11 Pro features a 12MP+5MP dual camera setup on the back, along with a 25MP selfie shooter up front. You’d probably already know that Vivo phones are known for their great camera performance and the new V11 Pro isn’t all that different. The device performs remarkably well in almost all scenarios, making it one of the best (if not the best) camera phones in the mid-range category.

The smartphone’s primary camera setup is capable of taking some stunning images in good lighting conditions, but it struggles to keep up the performance in low light shots. Images clicked in good lighting conditions are quite sharp and detailed, with great color reproduction and just a little bit of over-saturation. The dynamic range is also pretty great, with the device managing to capture stark shifts in color quite accurately. Just take a look at some of the images clicked using the Vivo V11 Pro in good lighting conditions:

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Low light performance on the Vivo V11 Pro was also pretty great. The device managed to capture crisp and clear images, with an ample amount of detail and minimal noise. Compared to other smartphones in this price range, the Vivo V11 Pro’s low light performance is surprisingly pretty good. Here are a few sample images clicked in low light using the Vivo V11 Pro:

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The Vivo V11 Pro’s secondary 5MP sensor is used for depth perception and the smartphone is capable of delivering stunning portrait images in good lighting conditions. Subjects are well isolated with accurate edge detection, but the background blur looks a bit unnatural. However, Vivo allows users to fine tune portrait images, making it quite easy to get a great portrait shot even if the original image doesn’t look good. You can easily adjust the intensity of the background blur and in case you have multiple subjects in your image, you can even choose which subject remains in focus. Here are a few portrait images we clicked using the Vivo V11 Pro:

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The 25MP f/2.0 front facing camera is no slouch either and it is capable of delivering some stunning images, time and time again.The images captured with the selfie shooter have plenty of details, good color accuracy and little to no noise. The front facing camera also features portrait mode capabilities and portrait mode selfies captured using the device have good subject separation and a decent background blur. Here are a few sample images captured using the front facing camera:

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The camera performance of the Vivo V11 Pro is quite satisfactory overall. The device manages to click decent images in pretty much all scenario, capturing enough details even in low-light conditions. I had quite a lot of fun clicking pictures with the device and playing around with Vivo’s implementation of the portrait mode.

Video

The Vivo V11 Pro doesn’t include support for 4K video capture, which is a slight disappointment, and the device only supports 1080p video. While the video quality is quite okay, the fact that the device doesn’t feature any kind of stabilization results in very shaky and often out of focus video. Here’s a sample 1080p video captured using the Vivo V11 Pro:

Vivo V11 Pro vs Poco F1 vs Vivo V9: Camera Comparison

While the Vivo V11 Pro is a mid-range device on paper, its price pits it against the likes of the Poco F1. Therefore, I’ve compared the device’s camera with that of the Poco F1 and also the Vivo V9, just to see if there’s any major improvement. Unsurprisingly, the Vivo V11 Pro fares quite well against the competition, delivering great images in both good lighting and low light conditions. Here are a few sample images we used for comparison:

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Poco F1

Vivo V9

Vivo V11 Pro

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Poco F1

Vivo V9

Vivo V11 Pro

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Poco F1

Vivo V9

Vivo V11 Pro

As you might already be able to tell, the Vivo V11 Pro not only manages to outshine the competition in good lighting, but it also fares quite well in low lighting conditions. Portrait mode images clicked using the Vivo V11 Pro are at par with the Poco F1, but the sheer versatility that the Vivo V11 Pro provides in portrait images is definitely unbeatable. Check out some of the samples below:

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Poco F1

Vivo V9

Vivo V11 Pro

Poco F1

Vivo V9

Vivo V11 Pro

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Poco F1

Vivo V9

Vivo V11 Pro

The front facing 25MP selfie shooter on the Vivo V11 Pro also outperforms the competition, delivering high-quality images both with and without portrait mode turned on. Just take a look at these samples below:

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Poco F1

Vivo V9

Vivo V11 Pro

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Poco F1

Vivo V9

Vivo V11 Pro

Audio Quality

The Vivo V11 Pro features a single downward firing speaker which can get reasonably loud at max volume, however, it does tend to distort at higher volumes which isn’t quite ideal. The device also suffers from the same problem that every device with a downward firing speaker faces, the speaker easily gets muffled while using the device in landscape mode, but that’s a sacrifice you’ll have to make if you want a bezel-less devices.

Audio output from the 3.5mm headphone jack is pretty decent, both with the included earphones and other pairs that I tested with the device. I had no problems with the audio quality from the earpiece, which isn’t something I could say with the Nex’s screen soundcasting technology. Audio output from the earpiece is loud and clear and I had absolutely no problems hearing the caller, even in noisy environments. In the audio department, the Vivo V11 Pro is quite comparable to most other mid-range devices, however, it lags quite far behind its most prominent competitor, the Poco F1.

Connectivity

Connectivity options on the Vivo V11 Pro are plentiful and most users won’t even find any problems with the device in this area. The device features a 3.5mm headphone jack and a triple slot SIM card tray with a dedicated slot for expansion using a microSD card.

However, including a micro USB port on a device launched so late in 2018 is a major con and I wish Vivo had upgraded to a USB Type-C port, which has now become the norm. Other connectivity options include dual band 2.5GHz/5GHz WiFi and Bluetooth 4.2. While Bluetooth 5.0 would definitely have been a better choice, I wouldn’t penalize the device too much in this regard.

Battery

The Vivo V11 Pro packs in a respectable 3,400mAh battery with support for Vivo’s Dual-Engine fast charging technology. The company has included a 9V/2A fast charger within the box and using the stock charger I was able to charge up the device from 15 percent to 100 percent in just 1 hour and 30 minutes, while charging from 15 percent to 50 percent took just 21 minutes.

Even though Vivo’s Dual-Engine fast charging technology isn’t the fastest in the market, it’s still quite fast and it’ll definitely help you top up the battery in a jiffy whenever you’re in need. The Vivo V11 Pro also fares well when it comes to battery life, comfortably lasting for an entire work day with some charge left to spare. In my testing, the Vivo V11 Pro lasted well over a day with light use, including the usual calls, texts, a little bit of social media browsing and playing a game or two of PUBG. The device delivered a screen-on time of just over 3 hours and 30 minutes, with 50 percent battery remaining at the end of the day.

L: Light use, R: Heavy use

In heavy use as well, which included running several benchmarking applications, playing a number of matches of PUBG and watching a whole lot of videos, the device comfortably managed to last an entire day. The Vivo V11 Pro delivered a screen-on time of just over 5 hours, with about 16 percent battery remaining at the end of the day. The device also had exceptional standby time and it barely discharged overnight, which is also pretty great. Overall, I was quite impressed by the Vivo V11 Pro’s battery performance.

Vivo V11 Pro: Should You Buy?

Priced at Rs. 25,990, the Vivo V11 Pro offers a bunch of great features that you wouldn’t find in most other mid-range devices. It has a beautiful, bezel-less 6.41-inch Super AMOLED display which isn’t obstructed by a large unsightly notch. It features an in-display fingerprint scanner, which is another thing you won’t find in other mid-range devices. It also features an IR-assisted face unlock feature which not only is more accurate than the face unlock found on most other mid-range devices, but also works quite well in dark environments. So, if you’re okay with spending slightly more for all these premium features, then the Vivo V11 Pro is definitely worth a buy. Having said that, if you are looking for the absolute best performance in this price range, the Poco F1 is definitely the smartphone to go for.

Vivo V11 Pro Review: Innovative Features at an Affordable Price

Well, that rounds up our review of the new Vivo V11 Pro. As I’ve mentioned previously, the device makes innovative features more accessible to the average buyer who’s looking for a mid-range device that brings something more to the table than just a decent processor. Even though it’s a bit more pricier than its competitors, it brings more value to the table in the form of a beautiful Super AMOLED display and an in-display fingerprint scanner. I would definitely recommend the device to anyone who’s looking for something that will separate them from the pack. However, if you’re looking for a smartphone that offers more in terms of performance or a smartphone with premium build quality, then you’d be better off with the Poco F1.

The new Vivo V11 Pro,a mid-range device from the Chinese smartphone manufacturer, offers a couple of innovative new features that have previously been limited to flagship devices. It packs in an impressve 6.41-inch Super AMOLED display with minimal bezels and a tiny notch. It rocks an in-display fingerprint scanner which is faster and more accurate than the one found on older devices. And it packs in a great set of cameras which will surely satisfy any shutterbug.